This disclosure relates in general to tracking user interactions with content items distributed by content provider systems, and in particular, to determining identity of a user interacting with content from a content provider system for accurate tracking of user interactions.
Systems that provide content, for example, content distribution systems and publishing systems track interactions of users with content items to analyze distribution of the content items. Tracking user interactions requires identifying users that performed these interactions. Online systems typically track user identities by requiring users to identify themselves before performing interactions, for example, by logging in and providing credentials. However, users may not prefer to provide their credentials every time they perform a user interaction. Requiring users to log in to the online system for every interaction may result in a poor user experience, thereby discouraging user interactions with the online system.
Another technique conventionally used by online systems to determine user identity is to store information on a client device identifying the user, for example, as cookies. This information is accessed by the online system to identify the user of the client device. However user identity determined using information stored on the client devices can be inaccurate. For example, cookies may often be deleted by a client device. Furthermore, a client device may be shared by multiple users. As a result the online system receives the same cookie even if different users are using the client device for different interactions. As a result, online systems are often unable to accurately identify the users that performed the user interactions. The accuracy with which the system can identify the users performing specific user actions determines the accuracy of reports analyzing the user interactions. Due to inaccuracies in the identification of users, reports describing user actions often comprises inaccurate information.